Open Textbook List

Astronomy is designed to meet the scope and sequence requirements of one- or two-semester introductory astronomy courses. The book begins with relevant scientific fundamentals and progresses through an exploration of the solar system, stars, galaxies, and cosmology. The Astronomy textbook builds student understanding through the use of relevant analogies, clear and non-technical explanations, and rich illustrations. Mathematics is included in a flexible manner to meet the needs of individual instructors.

Calculus-Based Physics is an introductory physics textbook designed for use in the two-semester introductory physics course typically taken by science and engineering students. Calculus-Based Physics is a free physics textbook. You are encouraged to copy, edit, use, and share the book itself and the ancillary materials posted to this web site in accord with the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 2.5 License.

College Physics meets standard scope and sequence requirements for a two-semester introductory algebra-based physics course. The text is grounded in real-world examples to help students grasp fundamental physics concepts. It requires knowledge of algebra and some trigonometry, but not calculus. College Physics includes learning objectives, concept questions, links to labs and simulations, and ample practice opportunities for traditional physics application problems.

Wikibooks, The Free Textbook Project

This is a textbook on general relativity for upper-division undergraduates majoring in physics, at roughly the same level as Rindler's Essential Relativity or Hartle's Gravity. The book is meant to be especially well adapted for self-study, and answers are given in the back of the book for almost all the problems. The ratio of conceptual to mathematical problems is higher than in most books. The notational system emphasized most strongly is coordinate-free abstract index notation. Knowledge of first-year calculus and lower-division mechanics and electromagnetism is assumed. Differential equations, linear algebra, and vector calculus are used in various spots, and although it would not be too hard to skip over those spots while understanding the general ideas, the reality is that general relativity is a subject in which a fairly high degree of mathematical maturity will be useful. Special relativity is introduced from scratch, but it will be very helpful to have a thorough previous knowledge of SR, at the level of a book such as Taylor and Wheeler's Spacetime Physics or my own text Special Relativity.

Wikibooks, The Free Textbook Project

The volumes of the 2018 edition tell how to rotate a ball glued into a soft mattress for ever and ever - and challenges you to be the first to film this feat; they show how to create floating images with a simple toy, explain that usual light bulbs produce speeds faster than light when switched on, tell about why it is correct to say that the sun has already set when we see it just touching the horizon in the evening, challenge you to build a high-precision ball-chain (`Netwon's cradle'), show that a formula for pi is hidden in the hydrogen spectrum, provide more fun with quantum physics and colours, tell about noise-producing plants, ask about the Spanish burton and the fool's tackle, present the measurement unit for the spiciness of chili peppers, and present many other stunning images, facts and stories about motion of things, shadows, light, stars, planets, black holes and quantum particles.

Wikibooks, The Free Textbook Project

This nontraditional text arose from the conviction that science and engineering students would benefit from an introductory course which covers all of physics from a modern point of view. The text takes the perspective of a modern particle physicist and is based more on wave dynamics and relativity than on classical mechanics. The subject matter is split into two volumes of twelve chapters each. This is Volume 1, which covers:

-Waves, including geometrical optics
-Theory of relativity
-Relativistic matter waves and quantum mechanics
-Classical mechanics as the geometric optics limit of quantum mechanics

Wikibooks, The Free Textbook Project

University Physics is a three-volume collection that meets the scope and sequence requirements for two- and three-semester calculus-based physics courses. Volume 1 covers mechanics, sound, oscillations, and waves. Volume 2 covers thermodynamics, electricity, and magnetism, and Volume 3 covers optics and modern physics. This textbook emphasizes connections between theory and application, making physics concepts interesting and accessible to students while maintaining the mathematical rigor inherent in the subject. Frequent, strong examples focus on how to approach a problem, how to work with the equations, and how to check and generalize the result.

University Physics is a three-volume collection that meets the scope and sequence requirements for two- and three-semester calculus-based physics courses. Volume 1 covers mechanics, sound, oscillations, and waves. Volume 2 covers thermodynamics, electricity, and magnetism, and Volume 3 covers optics and modern physics. This textbook emphasizes connections between theory and application, making physics concepts interesting and accessible to students while maintaining the mathematical rigor inherent in the subject. Frequent, strong examples focus on how to approach a problem, how to work with the equations, and how to check and generalize the result.

University Physics is a three-volume collection that meets the scope and sequence requirements for two- and three-semester calculus-based physics courses. Volume 1 covers mechanics, sound, oscillations, and waves. Volume 2 covers thermodynamics, electricity, and magnetism, and Volume 3 covers optics and modern physics. This textbook emphasizes connections between theory and application, making physics concepts interesting and accessible to students while maintaining the mathematical rigor inherent in the subject. Frequent, strong examples focus on how to approach a problem, how to work with the equations, and how to check and generalize the result.